Boston Common

The Boston Common is the oldest park in the United States.  We started our visit to Boston there after riding the metro into the city.  It was a nice area to walk around while we tried to get our bearings.

Here the Colonial militia mustered for the Revolution. In 1768, the hated British Redcoats began an eight-year encampment. George Washington, John Adams and General Lafayette came here to celebrate our nation's independence. The 1860s saw Civil War recruitment and anti-slavery meetings. During World War I, victory gardens sprouted. For World War II, the Common gave most of its iron fencing away for scrape metal.

The land known as the Boston Common has belonged to the people of Boston since 1634, only four years after the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony arrived in the New World.  Settling first in Charlestown, they soon moved across the bay to a rocky peninsula known to the Indians as Shawmut, which they renamed Boston after the Lincolnshire town from which some of them came.

Among other customs, the Puritans brought with them the English village institution of the common land or "common," a tract set aside from royal or manorial lands for the use of the townspeople.

Today's Common, though undeniably altered, is nonetheless very nearly the same size and configuration as the tract purchased...in 1634.
--from City of Boston's Boston Common website

As you can see from the Google Maps screenshot the Common is a decent sized area in the heart of the historical city of Boston.

Quite a bit of grass remains across the Common and we saw plenty of people enjoying it.

We found these three statues near the start of the Freedom Trail (more about that in a future blog post) represent religion, industry, and learning.

Religion

Industry

Learning

Near the statehouse at the northern edge of the Common you'll find The Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial just across the street from the statehouse.

The Memorial serves as a reminder of the heavy cost paid by individuals and families during the Civil War. In particular, it serves as a memorial to the group of men who were among the first African Americans to fight in that war. Although African Americans served in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, northern racist sentiments kept African Americans from taking up arms for the United States in the early years of the Civil War. However, a clause in Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation made possible the organization of African American volunteer regiments. The first documented African American regiment formed in the north was the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Infantry, instituted under Governor John Andrew in 1863. African American men came to enlist from every region of the north, and from as far away as the Caribbean. Robert Gould Shaw was the man Andrew chose to lead this regiment.
--from Boston African American NHS site

The sculpture was sculpted by Augustus Saint-Gaudens.  We later ended up visiting the National Park site dedicated to him in New Hampshire where we saw another version of the sculpture.

The Soldiers and Sailors Monument is located in the middle of the Common.

We also walked around the Central Burying Ground that was established in 1756 as the fourth graveyard in the city.

We also enjoyed some time at a playground relaxing near the end of our day.

This beautiful mural was located in the playground.

Tomorrow we'll explore the Boston Public Garden which is located directly next to the Boston Common.

~Matt